Storm Front
by alphaGipsyDanger
Summary: Things can never go simply for Delta. But should Cole and Baird be left alone without adult supervision? And why do we get a sinking feeling when explosives are involved?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The ship rolled slightly with the waves. The sun a bleak sight behind the gathering storm clouds. Corporal Damon Baird stood on the deck of the CNV Cutter 3 miles from the coastal cliffs, observing the coast through a pair of binoculars. They had been sent up the coast from where the CNV Sovereign was stationed to collect whatever scrap materials that they could find from sorties onto the land and also to determine what was happening to the coastal stranded camps that had sprung up in the last six months. They had been mysteriously going dark and deserted with no reasons so far as to why that the remainder of the COG was aware of. This itself was unusual given their proximity to the old COG base at Port Farrell.

So far the Intel from other stranded camps revealed anyone found in one of the decimated camps had not died of natural causes and mysterious immulsion stains had been found everywhere. Some of the reported populations had even gone missing.

According to the scanners a large storm was rolling in and they would have to head back soon or find a safe harbour to wait out the storm. This was the last day on their 5 day excursion and by this point in the trip Cole had managed to get used to the seasickness that usually accompanied the ex thrashball player. The sun was beginning to set and it was almost twilight. Perfect time for the locust to be out and about, given their previous home being underground and their dislike for broad daylight.

Cole stepped up to the side of the ship where Baird was stood, still looking a little Green around the gills but at least he had stopped heaving a couple days before. "Hey, man. It sure ain't gonna be much fun if we hang around here much longer. I don't like the look of that storm none."

Baird sighed and let the binoculars hang from their strap around his neck. "You're just sick of being sick, I swear all you've done for the past few days is spend your time leaning over the side of the ship."

"The Cole Train can't help that his legs ain't steady unless they is on dry land Baby!" Cole replied, well used to the dry, biting nature that Baird frequently used with people. He was well aware that Baird got on far better with machines than people.

"Well, you should be glad to know that I'm about to-"Baird stopped mid-sentence as he spotted movement on the coast where there wasn't before. "D'you see that or am I finally going crazy on this floating rust bucket?"

Cole squinted as he looked in the direction Baird was pointing at. "Could be some Stranded, doubtful it would be any wildlife. We ain't seen any in that large a group for a long while."

Baird raised the dropped binoculars and trained them on the movement. "Shit!" he swore. "It's a locust convoy!" He could clearly see the convoy now. They appeared to be escorting two catapults over the cliffs. "From what I can see we have at least 20 drones, a few grenadiers and around 8 Bloodmounts all escorting two catapults." He passed the binoculars to Cole.

"What are they doing so far up north and where are they going?" Cole wondered out loud.

"Oh! I know! We can go ask them!" Baird retorted, pulling the binoculars back. "We need to report this and see whether there are any interesting targets the other recon groups have found that they may think are worth attacking. Anything of value even to them has long since been picked clean by the stranded"

Suddenly, as if they had been tempting fate, a Gas barge appeared from behind the cliff that the locust were traversing. "Oh, great! The rest of the family have turned up to say 'Hi!'" Baird muttered and dropped the lens letting them slap against his armour.

The barge appeared to hover over the convoy, slowly turning. Then, as it always seemed to be for anything involving the team members of Delta, they were spotted.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The warning horns could clearly be heard even from three miles out. The barge, which had been obviously being used as a scout point, had seen them and sounded the alarm. Whatever the reason for them being there, they clearly didn't want to be seen or leave anyone to tell that they had been there.

"Incoming!" Yelled Baird, who was already pulling his lancer from its usual resting place and ensuring that the clip was fully loaded and the safety was off.

Cole was also doing the same as the first salvos from the Barge's cannons began raining down around the ship. Water towers plumed around the ship as the first salvo landed short by a few metres.

"Pull back and return fire!" Bellowed Baird, waving his arm so that the Captain at the helm would reverse the engines and pull the ship out of range.

The ship lurched as the engines kicked in in full reverse, which saved the ship from annihilation as the next rounds had been ranged correctly and struck home. The mid-section of the ship took three strikes, just missing the supply of immulsion stored at the rear of the ship. Shards of metal flew and two of the crew manning the deck guns disappeared in a mist of gore as the exploding rounds pulverised the deck and anything in their immediate vicinity.

Below deck explosions could be heard and a grinding began to emanate from the taxed engines which had been rammed to full throttle from idling. Smoke began pouring from the entrance to the lower decks and the engine room. By this point, both Baird and Cole had manoeuvred toward the bridge entrance and were hiding behind the reinforced armour plating that ran around the ship as a safety barrier. An explosion in the bridge room caused the glass in the door next to Baird and Cole to shatter outward as something overloaded in the bridge room. The Captain's scream of pain was cut short as shrapnel found its way into his body. Baird and Cole were thrown against the barrier, hands over their heads in an effort to protect themselves from the flying glass and shrapnel propelled through the window.

The Barge was now almost on top of them and the convoy over the cliffs and out of sight. "We need something to bring that fucker down!" Baird hollered over the sound of another salvo being fired from the barge and the roar of the barge itself.

"You just leave that to the Cole Train!" Cole returned as he disappeared into the now smoking bridge.

"Cole!" Baird yelled, cursing that he had left his comm in the bridge room and knowing that it would be nothing but scrap now judging from the amount of damage he glimpsed when Cole pushed open the door and nipped inside. His attention momentarily taken from the barge above, his only warning of impending danger was the familiar and sickening sound of a torque bow round being pulled. Turning to look up at the barge, he noticed that a Theron had him in his sights it aimed the arrow straight at him. "Fuck!" he yelped as he started to rise to dive out of the way.

Baird's attempt to dive out of the way saved his life. The round hit the wall just behind him as he dived. However he was not as lucky as he hoped as the round exploded, launching him head first down the open stairwell access to below decks, spraying him with shrapnel down his right side with frightening force.

Cole, hearing the explosion and seeing the plume of smoke that accompanied it, just after hearing Baird curse made him hurry in unpacking what he had gone into the bridge for in the first place. Thankfully it had been one of the few really good things they had procured from one of their recovery missions to the main land. The heavy box that it had been secured in was designed to protect it from most explosive damage as he hefted the Long spear from its casing. "Oh yeah Baby! The Cole train is back in action!"

Hefting it over his shoulder the ex thrashball player peered through the smashed window of the bridge to judge where the barge was above them. His quick glance around him revealed no Baird, but his mind categorised that in the 'not now' folder and lined up the target. The barge had begun to circle round for another salvo and had its back to the ship. Lining it up, and ensuring that the exhaust path was clear, he pressed the fire button and unleashed the rocket.

The rocket flew true and impacted the gas barge perfectly causing it to catch fire and sink rapidly into the waves off the port side of the ship, taking any locust that were on board with it. "Whoooo!" Cole exclaimed, throwing the remainder of the launcher down on the floor next to the dead Captain and stepping outside of the battered bridge door.

"Damn, Damon, Baby! Did you see that? Old number 83 still has it! Ha Haaa!" Cole crowed as he danced towards where he had left Baird. Frowning when he couldn't find the corporal he remembered that there had been an explosion just past the bridge door in the opposite direction to where he had left Baird. Turning to look he noticed the tell-tale scorch and shatter pattern in the metal that a torque bow round would leave behind. As his brain began to connect the dots, he remembered hearing Baird shouting "Fuck" just before the explosion. Given that he was not on deck and currently bitching about the state of the ship or the use of the only long spear rocket that they had been able to find, that meant he must have been on the other side of the scorch pattern. That meant…

"Oh no baby," Cole breathed as he looked to the bent and battered open door leading to below decks. "Damon! Come on, Damon, answer me!" Cole yelled as he strode the few paces towards the door. What he saw made his stomach drop and all sense of euphoria at dropping the locust barge fled.

At the bottom of the landing of the stair lay Baird, sprawled on his front with a pool of blood slowly spreading underneath him.

Please Review, it feeds the muse.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

At the bottom of the landing of the stair lay Baird, sprawled on his front with a pool of blood slowly spreading underneath him.

"Damn, Damon," Cole breathed as he carefully made his way through the door and down the stairs.

Baird was lying face down, his right arm trapped underneath him. A pool of blood slowly beginning to spread from under his head and chest. Around him was pieces of shrapnel and his lancer was off to one side.

Being as careful as he could, Coe crouched down and gently rolled Baird onto his back. The sight wasn't pretty. There was a large gash going from his left eye up into his hair line which was now blonde mixed with dark red. His right arm appeared to bend at an odd angle between his wrist and elbow and blood was slowly seeping from his right side, between the plates of armour.

"Yo! Is anyone there?" Cole yelled, looking down the reverse stairs leading the rest of the way down to the lower decks. "Hello?!"

Through the now dissipating smoke that had permeated the corridors below two of the crew could be heard running in their direction.

"Cole!" Yancy, one of the deck crew came round the corner and slid to a stop at the base of the stairs. "What the hell happened?"

"Locust patrol spotted us and had a barge. Captains dead, so is the rest of the deck. Died when they started dropping shells." Cole replied, pulling a med kit from one of his utility pockets and applying a pad to the wound on Baird's head. "We need to get him moved somewhere and get hold of Sovereign. What state is the ship in?"

Yancy and the other moved up the stairs and began to help Cole lift the unconscious Baird. "We were in the galley when we heard the Corporal shout for us to pull back. Got thrown round a bit. The lower decks began to fill with smoke and we had to pry the door open to get out. We heard some movement coming from the engine room and we were about to go and check when we heard you."

Together, the three men managed to lift Baird and gently move him down the rest of the stairs. "We need to get him to the Infirmary, it ain't much, but it's all we got," the other crew member Gates said. "Hopefully the Doc made it and the place ain't too damaged"

"Well, alright then, the Cole Train loves a good plan." Cole replied. "You hang in there Damon, we got ya."

They slowly made their way through the corridor towards the Infirmary, throughout the whole journey Baird didn't stir once. Arriving at the door, Yancy called out, "hey! Doc? You in there?"

"I'm here, but I could use a hand!" came the distinctly female voice from somewhere towards the back of the room. One side of the room had clearly taken the brunt of one of the shells and had caused a partial collapse of the roofing tiles. The voice could be heard coming from a pile of equipment and a gurney, which had slid to one of the corners of the room.

Yancy pushed the door further open and made his way over to the pile of debris while Cole and Gates laid Baird on the other remaining gurney that was still thankfully upright and undamaged. "Jeez, Doc. You got nine lives or something?"

"Well, it could be said that I have the reflexes of a cat," She quipped as Yancy began pulling on the upturned gurney that had not only saved the docs life from the falling equipment but had also trapped her.

Gates began pushing the debris out of the way while Yancy gave the doc a hand out of the small safe area she had hidden in. Cole had remained by Baird and was in the process of trying to get his armour plating off.

"Well, looks like it'll take a while to get this mess cleaned up," The red head commented as she dusted herself down and rearranged her clothing, checking for any unnoticed injuries. "What happened?"

"Uh, Ma'am, we had some trouble from being spotted by a locust patrol," Cole informed her, continuing to work at the release catches on the prone man. "They had a barge that began dropping shells."

"That explains the state of one corner of my Infirmary then. The Captain?" She asked.

"Dead, I'm afraid. Along with the deck crew who were on deck. Blew out the guns too."

"Status of the ship?" She asked drawing up to her full height of 5'10".

"We're not sure yet Doc," replied Yancy who had been helping Gates upright most of the fallen equipment. "Me and Gates are gonna go check out the engine room, you need anything else?"

"I'm sure that this fine Gear will be all the help I will need for the time being Gates," she replied, pulling on some gloves and digging out some supplies she thought she would need from the cursory glance she had given her patient.

"Yes Ma'am," was replied by all three of the others. Yancy and Gates nodded to Cole and left, turning out the door towards the engine section of the lower decks.

"You gonna be able to help him Ma'am?" Cole asked as she neared the gurney and began doing an initial assessment.

"Okay, first off, I really hate being called Ma'am. Doc will be fine or you can call me Grey," She replied, absently pushing the long red tresses that had fallen forward out of her line of sight. "And you would be?"

"Private Augustus Cole Ma'am – er Doc," Cole said, having the grace to look flustered at nearly calling her Ma'am.

"I'm Doctor Merry Grey, or if you prefer, Major Grey," She held out a hand for him to shake.

"Major?" Cole queried.

"I'm with the Naval medical core. Although I'm told I'm pretty handy in a fire fight." She replied returning to her assessment of the still out cold Baird. "And who might this be?"

"This, Major, is Corporal Damon Baird," Cole replied passing her a pad of gauze as she reached for it.

"Can you tell me what happened?" she asked, cleaning away some of the blood and grabbing a pair of scissors.

"Well, near as I can tell, a torque bow round hit the wall next to him and blew him down the stairs. From what I could see of the aftermath, it was a very close call and you nearly didn't have a patient" Or I a friend, Cole thought.

Grey began cutting through the sleeve to reveal the damage to Baird's arm, causing Cole to go a shade whiter. The bone was sticking out and it was not a nice image. "You would think Cole, given that you Gears regularly use chainsaws on locust that you wouldn't be put out by a small amount of bone sticking out," she prodded.

"Er, no, Major," Cole stammered. "It's just a little different when it's your friend. Will he still have the use of his arm?"

"It's not as bad as it looks, it just needs setting and cleaning up. I can easily manipulate the bone back into place," she replied as she did just that. "There is a chance of infection, but we can start him on antibiotics for that now. What concerns me is the amount of shrapnel embedded in his side and the head injury. Blood loss is a significant factor."

"Anything I can do?" Cole asked, obviously wanting to be doing something rather than standing there doing nothing.

"I shall be okay for now if you want to go see what the damage is to the rest of the ship and see if you can get a message through will you, I only have limited resources here and I believe your friend will need more work than I can give him here." She spoke as she began wrapping the arm in a splint and securing it.

"On it Doc, you can rely on the Cole Train!" he said with a smile, happy to be doing something useful. With that he turned and left the Infirmary to assess the damage.

"Well, Corporal Baird, it seems that it's just you and me," she murmured as she began to clean and remove the shrapnel from his side. "Just don't wake up while I'm doing this OK?"


End file.
